Salesforce.com to Acquire Buddy Media and Staff

Salesforce.com is snapping up Buddy Media for $689 million, marking its latest effort to build an all-in-one social media marketing platform. And what makes this deal particularly sweet for Buddy Media’s employees is they’re all expected to be retained.

Buddy Media, which helps companies launch campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites, has some 150 employees who will join Salesforce.com’s more than 5,500 workers worldwide. But while Salesforce.com plans to absorb them, it’s not guaranteeing a length of employment.

Buddy Media CEO Michael Lazerow touted in a blog post that the deal was good for his staff, noting that Fortune magazine earlier this year named Salesforce.com one of the best places to work.

Salesforce.com has been on a real hiring binge. Last year, it hired 3,100 full-time employees, then added 500 in this year’s first quarter. CEO Marc Benioff , speaking with analysts, described the company as “distribution constrained.” In other words, it didn’t have enough people to close new business, which sounds like a need for more sales staff.

But the company also lists 198 open engineering positions and recently announced plans to add 750 people in Europe as it boosts is cloud computing services there.

According to Glassdoor.com, a senior technology staff member at Salesforce.com earns a median income of $106,136 to $129,428.

Recently, the Software-as-a-Service company abandoned plans for an opulent headquarters in San Francisco, since it’s growing faster than the new campus could be built. Fortunately for Buddy Media, it has its own modern digs in New York.